Santorini
is everywhere on Instagram. Every summer you see tons of instagram babes and
celebrities posting flawless pictures of Oia. They stay in fancy hotels, eat in
amazing restaurants and you think that you will be able to go there only when
you will be rich.

Let me tell
you something, you don’t have to be rich to visit Santorini. I’ve lived in London
and Paris and those places were more expensive than Santorini in my opinion.
The only things that are really expensive on the island are the fancy hotels
and the fancy restaurants (just like everywhere in the world). The activities
are maybe more expensive than on other Greek islands but it’s still okay and
you can make it work.

If you were
looking for tips like “how to stay in Oia for cheap” , then I’m sorry because
this article won’t satisfy you. But if you are like me and think that any place
can be traveled on a budget, keep on reading.

I flew to
Santorini last October and let me tell how amazing it was. I stayed 5 days and
I thought that I would share my experience with you.

How to fly
there: From Paris and other big European capitals, you can find some good deals,
especially if you book in advance. I flew with Aegean airlines and I think it
was probably the best company to fly with. But any flight company will do
considering it’s a short flight. If you are familiar with the blog, you know
that I’m a huge fan of flying during the low season. Flights and accommodation
are a lot cheaper. It tends to be less crowded too. However, I was surprised to
see that there were still a lot of tourists in October on the island.

You might think that October is risky weather wise, but it’s not. I went there in early October and it was hot and I could swim in the sea. It might rain a bit in the morning but the sky clears out pretty fast.

Go on momondo.com to find cheap flights. I discovered this website a few months ago and I believe it’s cheaper than kayak.com etc since their commissions are smaller. But use a variety of websites and don’t forget to turn the private browsing on so that the prices do not go up later.

How long to stay: I think 5 days is perfect. A lot of people like to visit other Greek islands when they are in Greece. I made this mistake the first time I went to Greece. I wanted to see Athens and Rhodes and only had 4 days. So, I spent 3 days in Rhodes and one in Athens. I could not enjoy those places fully and lost a lot of time at the airport.

My recommendation is: if you only have a couple of days available and your budget is tight, pick one island only and explore it fully.

Accommodation:
Oia is amazing, we all wish we could stay there but for most of us, it is not
affordable. Stay in Fira if you can. Fira is the capital of the island, so you
have everything there to plan your trip around. You can find hotels for 25euros
for 2 or backpackers around 14euros/night. Most places have pools but if they
don’t it’s all good. You have wonderful beaches and a lot of beach clubs with a
pool too.

The island
is very, very safe. And even if someone tries to still your stuff he/she won’t
go very far.

How to
discover the island: The best way to visit Santorini is with a scooter. It’s
very nice! You can also rent a car and take the bus. The bus is at 1.80-2euros
on way and it goes everywhere. Another reason to stay in Fira, it’s a lot
easier to catch the bus and come back to your place easily.

The food: I
absolutely love Greek food and it’s becoming my favorite cuisine. Everything is
tasty and feels like your mom made it. I only went to normal restaurants so
prices were decent. In Oia you pay for the view. A pastry would cost 3 euros
for a take away, but 7 euros if you eat inside. That’s a bit crazy but this is
how it works there.

I found
grocery shopping expensive in Fira but they have plenty of affordable bakeries
where you can eat typical Greek pastries but you have to be willing to go
outside of the popular places. You will find those bakeries close to small
villages and you can buy per kilo.

The best
things in life are free right ?! You have many wonderful beaches in Santorini.
From the Black beach, to the Red one. They are all mind blowing. Take time to
explore your surroundings.

I was
disappointed by the black beach at first but once I took the time to look
around, it became wonderful. It’s dark but once you look closer you see plenty
of colors around you.

The red
beach is incredible. You will have to hike a little bit to access the beach so
wear proper shoes and don’t go there with flip flops (don’t be like me).

The White
beach is accessible only by boat once you are on the Red beach. Every 10 mins
or so a boat comes and asks you for a ride. I didn’t take it so I can’t tell
how much it is but it should not be expensive.

When I was
during my research, I found an article from one blogger saying that you
should avoid cruises. I did a boat cruise last year in Rhodes and loved it. I usually follow recommendations from other bloggers but this time I went against their recommendations and booked
two boat trips.

The first
one was The Volcano boat tour. It lasts 7 hours. The cruising company picks you
up early in the morning and takes you to the boat. If your budget is really
tight do this one. I paid 40 euros and it was worth every penny. Everything was
wonderful and the guides friendly. We stopped on the Volcano island of Kameni.
The view you get from the island is incredible. I can’t believe I had the
chance to see that. However, don’t get your expectations too high when it comes
to the Volcano itself. You won’t see lava or anything like that. (You have to
add 2 euros for this activity.)

After that,
the next stop is the Hot Springs. You get a chance to swim in the sulfur water.
The sulfur contained in the water is supposed to smooth your skin but I didn’t
see a difference.

After the
dip, the boat gets you to Thirassia island, where you can swim and grab lunch.
You have plenty of restaurants on the beach and the view is insane, I repeat:
insane.

Later in
the week, I did the sunset cruise. This one was a lot more expensive but I
wanted to do both so that I could share this experience on the blog. If you
want a wonderful cruise and have a bit of money do this one. It was even better
than the previous one. They first pick
you up at your place, and take you to the boat. Everything is included in the
price!

We stopped
at the Red beach to swim, then we moved on to the White beach, swam again while
the staff was making the barbecue with typical Greek food. We did a bit of
snorkeling but I sucked at it. I still need to learn how to breathe with my
mouth only (if you have tips on that please leave a comment below).

We went to
Oia for the sunset and it was both wonderful and splendid. I can’t recommend this
trip enough but I don’t think I need to try really hard to convince you to
spend your afternoon on a catamaran.